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So this is how the story goes. In 1826 a London merchant decides to buy some cloth from a weaver in Hawick, a town in the Scottish borders famous for its cloth production. Very happy with his order, he decides to get some more but – crucially – misreads the weaver’s dashed handwriting. Instead of ‘twill’ this Londoner reads ‘tweed’, and assumes this new cloth must take after the River Tweed which runs fast and clear through the textile areas of lower Scotland. ‘Tweed’ and not ’twill’ has been the term used ever since.

A few weeks ago I found myself surrounded by fascists. I was on my way to the West End when at Tower Hill station a large group of French-speaking men with assorted girlfriends and wives (I presume) entered my tube carriage.

With only one week to go until our Sherlock Holmes exhibition opens to the public, we wanted to take a closer inspection at our trailer to reveal a few hidden clues as to what visitors might expect… you saw, but did you observe?

Being an archaeologist sometimes comes attached with this idealised image of treasure hunting; we’re meant to find gold aren’t we? Well, the reality is that most of the time we’re just shifting soil and recording lines in the earth. However, not today! Because today is all about those rare instances when shiny stuff pops up and you get a little excited.Read the full post

Imagine: the fire is nearing. You can feel its heat on your face and hear the shouts of those around you who are fleeing, arms loaded with possessions, not stopping to help the efforts to stave off the fire’s advance.Read the full post

Tomorrow night our Archaeological Archive will be undergoing a Medieval musical makeover. We’re turning the lights down for torch lit tours of our stores, our curators have been tasked with talking about their top medieval artefacts and we’ve commissioned musicians to create modern medieval inspired melodies.Read the full post

Over the last few weeks the Museum of London has been undertaking a season of work at Headstone Manor in London’s Harrow.

Katie, one of the staff at the Harrow Museum, looks on anxiously as a mobile crane moves our temporary office into position outside the Great Barn – one of the most important medieval timber buildings to survive in London.

Over the past fortnight the Museum of London’s Archaeological Archive has taken to these blog pages to dazzle you with the cream of the crop of our archaeological collections. In each of the three preliminary rounds, five objects have battled for your favour in an effort to determine which has been the best artefact that our volunteers have come across during the 13th Volunteer Inclusion Project (VIP13). Here are the final three: Read the full post

For the past week we’ve been pitting objects against each other to determine which has been the best of those worked through during the Museum of London’s 13th Volunteer Inclusion Project. Round 1’s winner was the sword/scabbard pilgrim badge and it is joined in the final with Round 2’s winner, which is…. Read the full post

One of the favourite aspects of our Volunteer Inclusion Programme is that we come across loads of incredible artefacts spanning London’s history. And during our current project we’ve encountered some beauties. What we then like to do is get them battling it out, with you, The Great Blog Reading Public, helping to decide which is the very best. No real reason to do this apart from fun. So let’s get started.

I feel sorry for bricks and tiles. They sit on our shelves at the Museum of London archaeological archive alongside thousands of shiny, beautiful, sexy objects which scream out to be looked at and admired. But the brick? Well it’s pretty much a lump of clay. So how can they compete with the rest? Impressions. Read the full post